Kamen no Akuma
by Mystical Blue Fire
Summary: 9 kids band together under one name. 9 orphans abandoned at young ages. 10 years training and living together gives them the potential to stop a war. But will they? Or will they side with those who wish to start the war? TenXNeji ShikaXOC NaruXHina SasXOC Changed plot!
1. Chapter 1

_1 Year Before..._

"Hey! Stop thief!" Shouts rang out behind her as she weaved around civilians, dodging their outstretched hands with an unexpected speed and grace for such a small body. Clutching two loaves of bread to her chest she swerved to the left, narrowly missing the corner of a building.

Glancing behind her she felt a brief sense of satisfaction bubble inside her when she saw that she was putting more and more distance between her and her pursuers. When she turned back, there was no time to dodge out of the way, contact was swift and hard, with both who were involved falling backwards and onto the dusty street beneath them.

Snapping her head up, she glared, only for the look to soften when she caught the boy's lifeless brown orbs. He was young, maybe a year older than her, and an old woman stood by his side, watching the scene with a faint trace of amusement.

Looking into each other's eyes they communicated their mutual pain, the loneliness of losing their parents, however it had happened. The grief of having no one who understood. The agony of not trusting anybody else enough to talk about it, and not being able to feel the love of a family someone their age desperately needed.

Chiyo's POV

I was truly startled when a girl, approximately five years old, suddenly slammed into Sasori, knocking him down while losing her own balance as well.

At first she showed anger, which quickly changed into something I recognized as empathy. Somehow this young girl needed only to look at Sasori and know exactly how alone he was, despite my efforts at cheering him up. _Damn that Sakumo Hatake. He will pay. _My thoughts of revenge on the White Fang occurred daily, and it was easier to push aside the current need for his death and focus on the scene at hand.

The girl's face was dusty, and her simple trousers and oversized shirt were more than worn out, sporting rips, tears, and permanent dirt stains, while she hadn't even bothered wearing shoes. Her short dark hair was greasy and the only way I could even tell she was female was by the soft curve of her lips. With just another speck of dust, she would have been completely disguised.

During my analysis, I found that in her icy blue eyes, there was a tinge of yellow, as if lightning had struck and lit up her gaze, only the flash didn't fade, it remained. And contained within those unusual eyes was an intelligence that reached far beyond her years, both with emotional loss, and mental capabilities.

The next moment was a blur. She used one hand to hold onto the bread and lunged forward, grabbing Sasori's wrist with the other before she took off, dragging him to his feet. He followed willingly behind her, intrigued with the orphan who had quite literally, crashed into his life.

Girl's POV 3rd Person

She wasn't sure what had come over her, but she had seen the boy's eyes...they had the same look hers did. Towing him behind her, she raced through the allies, a map of every crevice and getaway passage in Suna burned into her brain as she manipulated them without hesitation.

She had only lived here for a month or two and had immediately found that the heat was durable, but the village was confusing. She had spent the first two weeks memorizing every store and street so she didn't have to worry about getting lost.

Hauling the red-head along behind her she took him to a warehouse that had been abandoned for at least a decade. It was identical to the other buildings with the same layout and she climbed through the first floor's open window, trailed by the now cautious boy.

Shutting the window she turned to him.

"I'm Rae."

"Sasori." He mumbled, blushing lightly.

She laughed. "Follow me and I'll introduce you to my friend. He's an orphan, like me," Rae said, taking a match out of her pocket and striking it against the floor. It lit up and she proceeded to lead him down a hallway, lighting torches that had been mounted along the wall, as she went. "Are you an orphan, Sasori?"

He shook his head. "No. My parents were killed on a mission."

"Oh. At least you can be proud of them. They died protecting the village," She turned, giving him a wane smile. "I bet that's what everybody tells you. They'll always give you excuses not to cry because it's how they cope with losing a comrade. It doesn't help. You're still sad and you still miss them."

He stared at her back, startled. She had been right. On all counts. But how had she known?

"Did you go through the same thing?" He asked quietly, noting how her shoulders tensed.

"Nobody's story is exactly the same. Mine...is something I wouldn't even want to tell anybody for fear they'd have nightmares. Besides," She gave him a cheeky smile. "I don't give and I don't like pity. Pity just makes it worse. People need a friend who understands, not a friend who feels sorry for them."

They came to a door and she knocked once, then pushed it open. A single lightbulb hung overhead, illuminating the middle of the room, where a pile of ragged blankets had been set up.

A small form lie atop the makeshift cot, trembling with sickness. As Sasori came closer, spurred by Rae's nudge, he saw the pale, sweaty face. A wet rag had been laid across the person's forehead and drips of excess water left streaks of white on otherwise dusty skin.

Short blond hair splayed out beneath the child's head and a blanket had been draped across their body. The gender was unidentifiable, due to both the dirt, and the slight feminine features.

Pale blue eyes fluttered open and the kid frowned up at him.

"I don't know you."

Rae moved forward, kneeling beside the body. "Deidara, it's okay. He's a friend. His name is Sasori. He's just like us."

"Like...us?"

Rae nodding, lifting the rag and taking a water bottle from a backpack that sat a little ways away. Unscrewing the cap she poured more water onto it, then wrung it out over a beat-up pan before setting it on Deidara's forehead again.

"Are you feeling any better?"

The boy attempted a weak smile. "Yeah...good as new."

She chuckled. "Are you hungry?"

Deidara shrugged, before drifting off into another deep sleep.

Sighing Rae dumped the stolen food to the side and stood back up, glancing at Sasori. A silent war seemed to take place in her. One side stubbornly refusing, while the other pleaded that it was the only chance.

With a brief hesitation, Rae spoke. "Sasori...I hate to ask, but...will you help me?"

He remained quiet, waiting for her to go on.

"Deidara's getting worse and I'm afraid he won't live if I don't get him some help, but I'm not a medic and I'm just a kid. I can't do anything and I don't have enough money for medicine. Do you know anybody who could help?"  
He nodded, briefly lingering over the irony of her having run into him, of all people, and asking him for help, out of everybody else, when he was possibly the only person who could help.

"I know the perfect person to ask. She'll do anything for me."

Rae's eyes lit up and she wrapped him in a tight hug. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

Blushing, he stared at his feet while Rae pulled back, grinning widely at him.

"I'll go get her." Spinning around, he hurried away, wondering how Granny Chiyo would react to his new friends.

**First chapter. I changed the timeline around, obviously, and the backgrounds are different too. Sasori won't end up a puppet, Deidara didn't blow up half of Iwa, and they're both close to the same age as Naruto, with only a few months difference. R&R please! **


	2. Chapter 2

_Present Time…_

"Granny, I'm going out to see Deidara-chan and Rae-chan!" Sasori exclaimed, vaguely recalling the time he had left without telling her. He'd returned a few hours later to find her angrily pacing, murmuring about how Sakumo must have come back to finish the job, or something and upon seeing him, nearly burst into tears.

"Alright! Have fun!" She called, before the door to her house slammed shut and Sasori was off. Again.

The older woman sighed, shaking her head. In the year that he had met that black-haired girl, he had become considerably more upbeat, but he had taken a liking to their abandoned warehouse and hardly ever came home. Sasori actually preferred being on the streets with his friends, fighting for his next meal and sneaking off with a few apples every now and then.

She had caught him a few times, but never said anything. No serious crimes were committed and he was just helping his friends out. They had helped improve his ninja skills too.

He had learned how to be stealthy, sneaking up on a man and liberating a bundle of oranges right out from under his nose without being caught.

His chakra control was also admirable for an eight-year-old. Sasori had let it slip a few months before about how Rae was teaching him how to climb trees without his hands, then he'd clamped his mouth shut, eyes widening as if he'd told a classified secret to the enemy.

She had pretended to forget all about it, but in reality it only made her more curious.

Rae and Deidara's past were unknown, though clearly traumatizing considering that they avoided the topic like the plague. Now she had a tricky situation on her hands. Two seven-year-old orphans with no families, who weren't from Suna, but were both highly advanced in ninja skills, were taking refuge in the Sand Village.

She had spied on them a few times and seen both Rae and Deidara demonstrating how to climb trees relying solely on chakra, walk on water, and create a henge. Then Rae had shown off her clone jutsu and a flawless transformation jutsu as well.

Chiyo had a feeling her abilities didn't stop there. Seeing them spar, it was obvious Rae's speed was no laughing matter, though her strength could use a lot of work.

Deidara too, had some special talent that he kept hidden.

Once, not too long after Chiyo had healed Deidara, she allowed the two to sleep over and wash up, then when they got out, presented them each with a new pair of clothes.

Hesitantly, they had accepted the gift and admitted to feeling better after scrubbing away the layers of grime.

They looked better too. Rae's skin was an ivory white and her hair, which Chiyo herself had washed, was now shiny with a slight curl on the end, and you could notice the natural crimson tint among the layers of ebony.

Deidara's skin tone was barely darker than hers and his blonde hair hung straight down, his bangs falling in his mischievous blue eyes, while Rae's own unusual orbs twinkled playfully, but they both were weighed down with the pressure of untold secrets.

At the dinner table, Rae had shown exceptional manners, compared to Deidara who dug right in, stuffing his face. With a steady hand she had eaten at a polite pace, yet still managed to finish her food at the same time as her friend. In the midst of the three's goofing around, she had carefully caught Chiyo's gaze, communicating her gratitude to the elderly woman.

Chiyo returned the look with a warm smile. After dinner Rae had insisted Deidara help alongside her with the dishes, giving him a warning glare when he complained. He shut up automatically, and even Sasori joined in. That ended with surprisingly no broken plates, but an intense bubble war.

That night she had tucked the three into Sasori's bed, the red-head in the middle with a content smile as he fell asleep between the two.

Deidara and Rae drifted off soon after.

That morning, however, Chiyo had been woken by an unearthly scream coming from their room. Faster than anyone would expect someone of her age to move, she snatched up a kunai and stood in the doorway of Sasori's room, to see Deidara hugging a trembling Rae to his chest.

Chiyo had relaxed slightly before approaching them, sitting on the edge of their bed. "Has she ever done this before?"

Deidara glanced at her and shook his head. "Only once. She woke up yelling that 'he'd never take her alive' then curled in a corner cussing someone out,'" He suddenly seemed impressed. "I had no idea her vocabulary was so colorful."

Sasori stared at Rae, remembering what she had told him the first day they'd met. _"Nobody's story is exactly the same. Mine…is something I wouldn't even want to tell anybody for fear they'd have nightmares. Besides," She gave him a cheeky smile. "I don't give and I don't like pity. Pity just makes it worse. People need a friend who understands, not a friend who feels sorry for them."_

"A friend who understands…" He murmured softly.

Deidara comforted her as she slowly calmed down, not asking nor pitying her, he was just there. That was how they were with him too.

They'd pat his shoulder when he found himself entranced with a father who was buying his son lunch, or a mother who cuddled her hurt child so he would quit crying.

Sasori wanted to be there for them too. With that thought in mind he crawled forward and gingerly took her hand, whispering soothing words to her at the same time.

Chiyo just watched. The children before her…they didn't look like children. They looked like three friends who had lost too much at too young an age and instead of brooding had gone out to make it better, for themselves and others.

Little did she know the cycle would continue until they were a force powerful enough to stop a war, save the Five Shinobi Nations, and defeat the strongest enemy this world had ever seen.

Sasori headed to the park, the usual meeting place so they could decide what they would do for the day. Rae came up with some pretty creative and fun ways to train, focusing on a certain skill one day at a time until she had revolved through the main ones: stamina, speed, and strength fell under the same category, ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, chakra control, stealth, and then they would take a day to hone their own special interests.

One subject for each day of the week, but a different method in practicing as well, so it didn't get too boring.

When he got there, however, Rae was sitting on top of Deidara, pinning him to the ground. "Art is grace you ignorant blonde!"

"Art is a bang, you uninformed-!"

"Art is eternal." Sasori calmly interrupted, attracting their attention as he came closer.

"You're both fools," Rae stated, standing up. "Who know nothing about true art," Turning on her heel, she marched over to the nearest person, a little boy who was sitting alone on a swing. "Hey!"  
The red-head looked up and Rae paused, catching his turquoise eyes. They were so lonely…making up her mind she continued until she stood in front of him. "What do you think art is?"  
"Huh?"

Deidara came up on her right side. "Art is a bang right?"

"No, art is eternal."

"Art is grace!"  
"Art is a bang!"

"Art is eternal!"  
The three glowered at each other, slight killer intent wafting from each of them, then they suddenly broke into a giggling fit.

Sasori tried to bite back his chuckles, which caused his face to turn red, where Deidara proceeded to point at him and double over, clutching at his stomach as he chortled. Rae crouched down, bracing one hand on the ground next to the unidentified red-head's foot while she laughed.

A tear slipped from Rae's eye, when she abruptly froze.

The red-head was kneeling in front of her, frowning as he touched her cheek, successfully drawing the lone tear onto his finger. He stared at it, seemingly entranced with the way it glistened in the sun.

"You didn't look sad…" He murmured, right before the reality of what he had done smacked him upside the head and he blushed. "S-Sorry."

By now Deidara and Sasori had calmed and were standing a little ways away, curious as to how their friend would handle the strange situation.

Rae blinked, once, twice, then smiled. "It's fine. And I wasn't sad. It was a tear of joy."

"Joy?" The red-head repeated hesitantly, the distrust obvious in his young visage.

"Uh huh. Like when you're really happy."

The boy seemed to consider this a moment before answering. "But," He paused. "You don't have a family."

The two boys behind her glanced at each other. Rae could be unpredictable if her family was brought up, either bursting out into cursed mutters, and daydreaming of particularly gruesome ways to strangle a certain man, or curling up in fetal position whimpering. Those were her most common reactions, but on a rare occasion she would settle with taking her anger out on whoever brought the subject up. They had plenty long-lasting bruises to prove it, too.

The mentioning of her past was complete taboo and could only lead to a day of dealing with a bipolar girl who could snap at any minute. Avoiding her was impossible, and out of the question, so hanging around was the next best thing. It gave her a chance to rant some random nonsense and take her frustration out.

They both sent up a quick prayer before moving back, giving the two a lot of room, just in case.

**Second chapter. I am very disappointed. I got one review. I thank that reviewer, but I need motivation. ...Gaara was OOC**


End file.
